


Begin Again

by HouseMullen



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Canon Related, Canon Universe, Crushes, F/M, Falling In Love, Feelings, Flirting, Fluff, Happy Ending, Love, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series, Romance, Teenagers, like right after, this story is set after alayne i twow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 21:05:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18290231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseMullen/pseuds/HouseMullen
Summary: Alayne Stone wants nothing but to get back home, and she has to marry Harry The Heir to do it. That's why she's trying to get closer to him, but deep inside, she yearns to build a true human connection with someone. On the other hand, Harrold Hardyng, known to be mean and crass, ended up being captivated by Alayne Stone ever since the moment where they danced together. He tries to get closer to her with the hopes of peeling her layers off, not knowing that in the process, his layers might be peeled off as well.





	Begin Again

Alayne hadn’t expected for things to go this well. In truth, she thought that nothing would have worked the way she wanted it to go.

Thankfully enough, Lord Robert hadn’t started twitching and shaking in front of everyone.

The thought of that possibly happening had been prickling the back of her mind the whole night.

If he had done that, everything would have been ruined and Alayne couldn’t allow for things to go sour.

_Not with what is at stake right now. Not when I could go back home._

In the end, the gods have been good and he ended up not being much of a problem.

Still, he didn’t seem too pleased upon seeing her dancing. He didn’t seem pleased at all.

Well, that’s going to be a problem for another day.

_That wasn’t what truly mattered though. Today had been a good day._

She had successfully managed to follow through with her father’s plan.

As he said, many green boys and knights had asked for her favor, some rather desperately at that.

Honestly, they were far more interested than her than she had thought. She remembered voicing her concern to father a while ago, but all of these worries seem quite silly now.

Still, some of their gazes worried her too, though she wasn’t sure why.

That wasn’t all that was in her mind that night.

Alayne still wasn’t sure which knight she should accept the favor of.

Many names had come to mind thus far, but none of them seemed like the right person, and if there was one thing Alayne was completely sure of, it was that things needed to go the right way.

Then there was Harry. _My Harry._ She had been absolutely terrified of making a misstep or not seeming interesting enough tonight, and the whole thing had left her dizzy.

However more than that, she couldn’t stop thinking of him after their dance.

If she has to be honest, memories of what down in the morning when she met him for the first time still made her bitter.

Not as bitter as before though. For some reason, when he apologized, much of it had dwindled away.

_When was the last time someone apologized to me for their wrongdoings? Must have been a million years ago..._

He seemed interested enough though. Alayne hadn’t thought she would be able to have him warm up to her that easily.

Perhaps it was his icy cold gaze earlier that day that made her think that way. Perhaps it was her bastardy that she thought would become an obstacle...Alayne wasn’t sure.

Even she couldn’t believe how daring she had been with him. Father would have been impressed. She was also surprised that father hadn’t come to talk to her about the night’s event after her dance with Harry.

_I can’t believe he was that sure of me succeeding in this._

She had tried to find and talk to him herself but she hadn’t seen him anywhere. He probably had just been too busy handling things. Any conversation with him would have to take place tomorrow.

Now she was in her room, unable to sleep. She could still hear the sound of people rambling jollily outside and sometimes when she closed her eyes, she could still hear the sound of him singing.

Even after he was gone, his voice followed her here.

She turned her head around trying to get rid of all these things that bothered her.

However, in doing so, she reminded herself that there was no one was sleeping besides her tonight.

For some reason, Myranda hadn’t joined her. Alayne couldn’t really pinpoint the reason why.

That made her remember what her father told her about the girl. He told her to be careful around Myranda.

_Was she bitter about my match with Harry? Is she trying to send a message with this absence of hers?_

Then, quite suddenly, Alayne heard a knock at her door and it made her instantly get up.

_Who could be in my room this late?_

Perhaps it was Lord Robert or better yet Myranda, however for some reason; she didn’t think it was either.

The thought of anybody else being at the door made her shiver. She still remembered that time, when everything still smelled of blood and wine or that time when these strange mismatched eyes were gazing at her.

She hadn’t been safe in her room for a long while. She missed the days where her biggest worries before sleeping was that Arya would probably move around the bed too much.

_No, these days don’t belong to me; they belong to that little girl Sansa Stark._

_The days in the capital also belonged to Sansa._

In truth, Alayne hadn’t any need to be afraid. Nothing happened to her for her to be this afraid.

Still, these moments frightened her every now and then. No matter how much she would try to shake them off, the fear she felt then was the same fear she felt now.

Still shaking, Alayne grasped for the knife she had slid under her bed. She couldn’t separate herself from it every time she went to bed.

She couldn’t sleep without it, because she remembered. She didn’t want to remember and she shouldn’t be remembering in the first place, yet still, she remembered.

Alayne preferred having the knife under her pillows, but with Myranda always there, she couldn’t afford to do that anymore. She couldn’t allow for herself to be careless around that girl.

She needed that knife because Alayne remembered what happened to that frightened girl Sansa, and no matter how much she didn’t want to, she knew that she would always remember.

The person knocked the door several more times. They seemed quite a bit impatient. That worried her.

Alayne made sure to cover her knife by hiding it under her night gown as she walked closer and closer to the door with precaution.

When she right in front of the door, she brusquely opened it.

The sudden swing of the door seemed to have surprised whoever that was on the other side because they let out a small gasp as they backed away.

It only took another moment before Alayne realized that this individual was Harrold Hardyng, looking much too confused for someone who was sneaking in her room at the middle of the night.

There he stood, with that sandy blonde hair, his warm beige skin, these cheek bones of his and these light blue eyes. He seemed to still be wearing what he was wearing when he asked her to dance.

_He shouldn’t be here._

“Ah...you surprised me my lady.” Harry divulged obviously still taken aback by how brusquely she opened the door.

Still, Alayne couldn’t believe him. She couldn’t believe he would dare to do such a thing.

She should have seen it coming. With his looks, he’s probably used to getting everything he wanted with other girls.

_He probably feels likes he’s authorized to do whatever he wants to do with me._

“I surprised you? That’s grand for someone who goes around snooping in the room of whoever he feels like taking.” Alayne let out as she glared at him.

In truth, she wasn’t really angry. In fact, she felt dominated by this feeling of fear, but she hoped that a front would stop from him from seeing how much she had been terrified.

Harry looked surprised at her reaction, like he wasn’t expecting such a thing

“I...that’s not what I came here for my lady.”he started without his usual confidence that would usually seep from every word he spoke. “I’m not...I’m not here to make my way with you.”

Alayne wasn’t expecting such an answer from him. That didn’t make her waver though. She couldn’t let him notice what she was truly feeling inside.

“So why are you here then?” she demanded with a surprising amount of hostility in her voice.

Harry looked to his left, and then to his right, probably wondering if there was anyone watching, and when he was assured that the hallway was vacant, he responded with “I just wanted to talk to you.”

The front that Alayne was putting on fizzled out a little bit, as she had become much too confused about everything relating to this situation to be or even seem angry.

Still, she recomposed herself before he could have the chance to notice anything particular about her, like how she was hiding her knife, or that her hands were currently trembling.

“And what was so dire that you needed to talk to me now about?” she asked, as she made sure to exude as much confidence as she could.

As conflicted as she was feeling, she couldn’t let him see her as anything but that confident clever girl. He would surely stop being interested in her if he saw any other side of her.

A small smile appeared on Harry’s face as he said “I have to admit that you have picked my interest earlier tonight and even hours later, my mind doesn’t drift anywhere but on the conversation we had shared.’’

He looked at her straight in the eyes before continuing with “And without even realizing it, my body had taken me to your room, wanting...needing to talk more.’’

Alayne didn’t know what to think or say. She could still feel her body trembling at least a little bit. Maybe he didn’t have any vile intentions, but this whole situation frightened her.

However, Alayne Stone wasn’t the type to fear, especially not fear things like this. She had always been a brave gal.

_I’m bastard brave, remember?_

So she gave him a teasing smile before getting a little closer to him.

“Missed me already?” she asked in a quipping manner.

“Would it make me seem bad if I were to say that I did miss you?”

Alayne chuckled lightly before responding with “It would, if you didn’t already seem bad.”

She took another good look at him, who looked even more taken aback by her statement, but in a good way. At least that’s what it seems since there was a small smile on his face the whole time.

She then proceeded to turn around and walk back to her room.

_Give him only enough for him to come back wanting for more._

Before she could enter her room, she heard a boyish laugh which must have been coming from Harry.

That made her turn her body around once again, and without intending for things to be this way, her eyes were met by Harry’s deep ocean’s eyes.

Her father had mentioned how many men would drown into the deep blueness of her eyes, but he had never warned her of how intoxicating it would be for her to stare deeply at the eyes of a boy like Harry.

Well, not a boy like him, but Harry himself.

She wasn’t even sure how much time was passing as she was falling deep into his eyes.

At that moment, she let her hands fall back into place.

The trance she had fallen into for a bit was broken by Harry who seemed like he was fumbling to say something.

_Perhaps he was as entranced as I was._

“As much as I would love conversing with you more, I see that me being here is making you uncomfortable so I would like to apologize to you for my rudeness an-.’’

“You should,” Alayne interjected in a teasing manner in her attempt to thrust the conversation forward as quickly as possible.

_He noticed. He noticed that I was bothered by his presence here._

She then took a glance at her trembling hand that she had accidentally stopped hiding in that span of time that she was staring at his eyes.

_That’s how..._

Her eyes went back to him who on the other hand looked rather confused, and if his furrowed brows didn’t make that clear enough, then him saying “What?” was.

Alayne pushed that little botheration of hers to the side to reply to him with “You said that you should apologize for barging in here, and so I said that you should.”

“But that’s what I just did…” Harry responded looking as lost as someone could be.

“No, you told me that you would want to apologize to me...but you have yet to do it.”

“I...I...you know what I meant when I said that.” Harry replied a bit perplexed by this turn in event.

Alayne put her right hand below her chin and asked “What did you mean when you said that?”

Harry’s cheeks had reddened quite a bit, and Alayne couldn’t lie, she found it quite enjoyable to tease him a little bit. Her trying to get him to look directly at him clearly only made it harder for him to calm down

Probably a bit bewildered by the pressure put on him, Harry looked up as he tried grasping for another answer.

Alayne stood there patiently with a smile on her face.

Harry continuously looked everywhere but at Alayne, until his eyes met hers once again, but this time, he formed a much more serious expression before saying “Sorry for barging in here.”

She felt a little flutter the moment he said that, and receiving another apology once again made her realize just how much she wanted an apology, not just from him, but from so many people in Sansa Stark’s life.

There were the words she had wanted to hear from her father so desperately when Sansa had been much younger.

“Sorry for allowing the Lannister’s to kill Lady”, “Sorry for not comforting you when you needed it”, “Sorry for not giving you any explanation as to why we should leave” but more than anything “Sorry and I love you…”

If he had spoken these words, Sansa would have forgiven him in an instant, and they would have gotten to have conversations that now, at this day and age, they would never get to have, because he was dead, and Sansa Stark was dead as well.

Harry looked around as he stepped backwards only to say “I assume you want me to leave.”

She was about to make a snarky remark, and part of her wanted to do that, but for a moment, it almost felt like her mouth wouldn’t allow her to say such a comment, as without thinking, it opened only for her to say “Maybe I want you to stay a little bit longer.”

Alayne started thinking about why she would say such a thing. It didn’t benefit her plan in seducing him by making him work harder to get her. It wasn’t something that her father would approve her doing either.

She told him that she wanted him to stay, and Alayne realized a moment later that she said that because she truly yearned for this, at least a little bit.

Her eyes once again met Harry’s, and this time, his eyes were smiling.

Upon seeing that, a smile formed on her face as well. Not a smirk, or a facade, but the kind of smile someone would get when they wanted a moment to last for as long as possible.


End file.
